A Young Kennedy Is Lining Up To Run For Frank’s House Seat

by: January 5, 2012

Joseph P. Kennedy III, the son of former Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II and grandson of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, “is taking the final steps to launch a run for Congress this year, hoping to succeed [the retiring] U.S. Rep. Barney Frank,” the Boston Globe reports.

According to The Herald News in Fall River, Mass., the 31-year-old younger Kennedy announced today that he’ll be leaving his post as a prosecutor in Middlesex, Mass., to explore entering the race. As you might expect, he’s a Democrat.

The Globe writes that Kennedy was “raised in Marshfield, Brighton, and Cambridge … [and] is a former Peace Corps volunteer and a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Law School. Before joining the Middlesex prosecutor’s office, he worked for 2 1/2 years as prosecutor on Cape Cod.”

Frank announced in November that he wouldn’t seek a 17th term in Congress. His district is being redrawn and Frank said he wants to focus on his work rather than introducing himself to new constituents.

When Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) left Congress at the end of 2010, it marked the first time in 63 years that a member of the family was not in either the House or Senate, The Associated Press notes. Patrick Kennedy is the son of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.)